It's smart to tame schedule beast right from start. Here are a few tips to help you.

1. Realistically consider how much time you want to spend on your e-zine.

For your beginning stages, plan on at least five hours to develop each issue if you're developing your own content. This includes time for researching, writing, formatting, proofreading, and publishing. And this estimate is for an e-zine featuring only one article. If you're going to feature more than one article, plan on making more time, or publish articles by guest authors.

2. Start with a conservative schedule. When you're planning your e-zine, you'll probably be so excited and brimming with ideas that you want to publish as frequently as possible. Stop! Your enthusiasm is admirable, but start off monthly for now. You can always increase frequency later, when you're sure you can handle it.

I excitedly began my "AKB MarCom Tips" as a weekly gig, then immediately dropped back to monthly once I caught myself moaning and groaning whenever I was scheduled to write it. Now that I have support staff, I've increased my schedule to biweekly (every two weeks).

I publish my other e-zine "Tips from E-zine Queen" on alternate week. This keeps it comfortable and enjoyable for me!

3. Even if you can stand it, don't publish daily. Yep, that's right. You want to be on your prospects' minds, but not in their faces every day. We all get SO much e-mail as it is! Even if you write a phenomenal missive, it's best to leave your readers wanting a bit more.

I was recently on list of a very good daily e-zine, but I just couldn't keep up with reading it every day. I felt extremely guilty watching issues build up unread in my e-mail inbox, so I finally canceled my subscription. If you want your e-zine to be joyfully anticipated and well read, I recommend publishing no more than once or twice a week.

- established your credibility, - developed a reputation as an industry expert, - cultivated a relationship with your subscribers, - inspired customer loyalty, - and maintained regular contact.

Regularly give your subscribers useful or entertaining information that they will benefit from, and they will come to trust you, respect you, AND BUY FROM YOU!

Sounds great, right?

But now you’re probably left wondering, "How do I get people to subscribe?" After all, you can write hundreds of newsletters, but if you only have a handful of subscribers, it can be a lot of work for little reward.

The BIG MISTAKE I see a lot of e-business owners making is thinking that simply posting a "subscribe today" box on their web sites -- and then forgetting about it -- is going to attract subscribers by thousands.

Even if your web site is highly trafficked, this is going to produce disappointing results.

You need to be prepared to ACTIVELY PROMOTE YOUR NEWSLETTER, much same way you would promote any other product or service online.

STEP #1: Promote Your Newsletter On Your Web Site!

Yes. Definitely promote your newsletter on your web site. But keyword here is "promote."

How motivating is it for a visitor to give you his or her name and e-mail address when presented with a subscribe box titled, "Subscribe to my free newsletter"?

Why? Why should I subscribe? How will I benefit from subscribing? What am I going to get?

Just because your newsletter is "free," doesn’t mean I want it. There are plenty of free newsletters out there I could subscribe to. What makes yours different or special?

You really need to "sell" your free newsletter to potential subscribers. In one or two short, exciting sentences CLEARLY STATE THE BENEFITS OF SUBSCRIBING to your newsletter. For example, if your web site was golf related, you might say something like,

"Subscribe to FREE 'Golf Tips' Newsletter and receive monthly tips and advice from Pro Golfers. Improve your swing, hear about world renowned golf courses, learn which clubs experts prefer, PLUS MUCH MORE!"

It sounds a lot more interesting than "Subscribe to my free newsletter," don't you think? Visitors to your web site will think so, too!

The other tip I’d like to share is about WHERE you should place your newsletter subscription box on your web site.

First of all, DON'T HIDE IT! Your goal should be to make sure that everyone who visits your web site is offered opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter at least once, if not twice.

Your newsletter subscription box should appear "above fold" (i.e., it should be immediately visible on first screen) of your homepage. This is where you’ll GET THE BEST RESPONSE -- and most subscribers!

STEP #2: Offer Existing Customers A Subscription

Have you offered your existing customers a subscription to your newsletter? If you haven’t, you should e-mail them an offer like this as soon as possible! This is an easy way to GET A FLOOD OF NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS.

And be sure to add a subscription offer to your "thank you for ordering" page or e-mail. If someone is interested enough in your product or service to purchase it, you can be sure they’ll want to subscribe to your newsletter.

Don’t miss this opportunity to MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH EXISTING CUSTOMERS!

If you’ve offered a free subscription to your customers but received a poor response, consider making things a little more interesting by offering them a "special gift" like a free article or eBook when they subscribe.

This EXTRA INCENTIVE should dramatically boost number of new subscriptions you receive.

STEP #3: Promote Your Newsletter In Your E-mail Signatures

An electronic signature -- also referred to as a "sig file" -- is a three to six line footer that you can attach to bottom of your e-mail messages and public forum postings. And it's a PRIME SPOT to advertise your newsletter!

Unlike a lot of other blatant advertisements, a sig file is universally accepted, so take advantage of this perfect opportunity to plug your newsletter! Anyone who receives an e-mail from you will also receive your invitation to subscribe to your newsletter.